Lightning fall 4-3, but team sees win just playing in Orlando

September 21, 2011|By Zach McCann, Orlando Sentinel

While it's a little silly to see people wearing hockey sweaters in sunny and humid Orlando during September — Wednesday's high was 91 degrees — the Tampa Bay Lightning are hoping to see more of them in the future.

The Lightning played their first game in Orlando since 1996 on Wednesday night, falling 4-3 to the St. Louis Blues in the first hockey game at the new Amway Center.

The preseason contest, which drew 11,688 fans, was also the first major hockey game within the city limits since the Orlando Solar Bears — and its league, the International Hockey League — folded in 2001.

"There are a lot of Orlando hockey fans here and it's a growing sport, especially here," said Steve Griggs, the Lightning's chief operating officer and former executive with the Orlando Magic. "The Solar Bears were here, and they used to have a really good fan base. And we want to tap into that fan base. We'll continue to see what we can do to play games here."

It was a healthy turnout on Wednesday night, with about 80 percent of the arena's seats and almost all of its suites filled up. Blue and white Tampa Bay jerseys — traditionally called sweaters, because they're made of wool — were seen throughout the crowd. And it felt like a Lightning game, as Amway Center's digital signage was customized to represent the Bolts.

The fans saw an exciting game, as St. Louis' Adam Cracknell broke a 3-3 tie with 2 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the game to secure the victory. Cracknell's goal came after a back-and-forth game which was tied three separate times.

Eric Brewer, Cory Conacher and Marc-Andre Bergeron all scored goals for the Lightning, who are now 0-2 in the preseason.

Knowing many of the game's fans were seeing their first hockey game, the Lightning wanted to put on a good show.

"People come for the first time and they love it and they come again and big friends and their family, and so on," Lightning coach Guy Boucher said. "The fan base becomes exponential after a while."

Griggs estimated the Lightning had about 100 season ticket holders in Central Florida last season, in addition to about 1,000 partial season ticket holders.

The Lightning previously played exhibition games in Orlando in 1992, twice in '93, and '96.

"When you come to see an NHL game live, you see how fast it is, how physical it is out there on the ice," Griggs said. "I think people see a great sport that maybe they haven't seen before. Watching it on TV instead of watching it live — even though we have HD nowadays — you can see the game live so much better."

Indeed, hockey is a game that needs to be seen live to truly be appreciated, says Orlando resident and Lightning fan Shawn Stewart.

"I'm hoping these people seeing the sport will help the fan base grow over here," said Stewart, who brought a friend with him who's never seen the sport before.

In the football- and Magic-crazed city of Orlando, the Tampa Bay Lightning are hoping shows like Wednesday night can get Central Florida sports fans to make room for just one more team.